Loves, lives, and little white lies
by SciFiFanForever
Summary: The Metacrisis Doctor and Rose Tyler have their happy ever after, but how long does a Metacrisis Time Lord live?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"I look like him and I think like him. Same memories, same thoughts, same everything. Except I've only got one heart."

"Which means?"

"I'm part human. Specifically, the ageing part. I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life, Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you... if you want."

"You'll grow old at the same time as me?"

"Together."

Little white lies, those very human lies that are told in order to be polite or to stop someone from being upset by the truth.

* * *

**Delivery Suite**

**Glendale Private** **Hospital**

**June 2011**

Rose Tyler was sitting in the relatives room of the hospital, nursing a cup of hospital tea from the vending machine. 'Wow this stuff travels between universes' she thought to herself as she took a sip of the hot, brown fluid. It stuck to the roof of her mouth before making its way down her throat. In normal hours, you could get proper tea or coffee from the restaurant.

A young, red headed nurse sitting opposite giggled as she saw her flinch at the taste. "Pretty bad isn't it? What did you have, the tea or the coffee?" she asked.

"Tea, I think," Rose said with a grin.

She glanced at her Torchwood wrist computer to get the time. 05:30 it told her, hopefully it wouldn't be much longer. She was on a week of four 'til midnight shifts, and had only had a couple of hours of sleep when her mum knocked on her door and told her the contractions had started.

She could hear her Mum groaning now through the door. This was it then; 'it' was on the way out. She had to call the baby 'it' because they didn't know what sex 'it' was.

"It sounds like someone's close to giving birth," the nurse noted.

"Yeah, it's my mum. I'm about to have a brother or sister."

It was then that Rose really looked at the nurse, and saw how similar her features were to her own. "Excuse me, but do I know you?"

The nurse closed the magazine that she'd been browsing and then noticed the photograph on the front. "Oh my God, of course, Jackie Tyler, water birth in Delivery Room One... you're Rose Tyler, her daughter."

"Yeah," she said with a smile. She was getting used to the celebrity status she'd inherited from her famous father.

The nurse was grinning at her. "All my friends and colleagues here keep teasing me that I look like you, except for the red hair of course."

"I was just thinkin' that myself. The likeness is remarkable."

"So, how have you been coping since you arrived here?" The young nurse asked with concern.

That question threw her slightly, how did this woman know that she had been stranded in this universe? "Pardon?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry, only it must be difficult adjusting to all this publicity when you've been living abroad at boarding school."

Rose relaxed, it was the cover story invented by Torchwood that she'd been referring to.

"Yeah, it's been a tough couple of years."

The door to the birthing room opened and the midwife popped her head around the door.

"Miss Tyler? Rose?" she asked her.

"Er, yeah. Is everythin' okay?"

The woman smiled. "Everything is fine. Would you like to come in? There is someone waiting to meet you."

Rose stood and nodded at the red headed nurse. "Nice talkin' to ya. I think there's a brother or sister waitin' to say hello."

"It was a privilege to meet you Rose. I think you have a little brother, and you are going to love him to bits," the nurse said with a conviction that made Rose frown.

She went into the Delivery Room and saw her Mum lying back against her Dad in the pool. She looked tired, but Rose had never seen her look so happy. Pete looked as though he might explode with pride at any moment.

Lying on her Mum's chest was a little pink bundle of humanity. Pete's arms enveloped Jackie and he was gently stroking the baby's back.

"Hi Sweetheart," Jackie said, her voice heavy with exhaustion. "Come and meet your little brother."

Rose knelt down by the side of the pool with tears welling in her eyes. Her brother had his eyes closed, and his mouth looked as though he was sucking a lemon, his chin moving as his tongue sucked inside his mouth.

"Anthony, Stephen Tyler," Jackie breathed. "This is your sister Rose."

Rose hesitantly reached out and stroked his wet head.

"Oh God Mum," she whispered. "He's so gorgeous."

Pete and Jackie both noticed that for the first time since she had been stranded here in this 'other' world, her smile had returned. Not her public smile, but her private one, the one she used to give the Doctor.

"Would you like Rose to hold him while we get you out of the pool?" the midwife asked.

Jackie looked up and smiled at Rose. "Would you mind Sweetheart?"

"Yeah, sure. Oh wow, yeah, I'd love to."

The midwife lifted Tony off Jackie and wrapped him in a clean warm towel, giving his body a gentle rub before handing him to Rose who was now seated in a chair.

As Rose accepted the tiny bundle, something strange happened. A memory was reawakened in her. She was in a church with the Doctor. Her Dad takes a baby from her Mum and puts it in her arms.

It was a paradox, she was holding herself.

Back in the present, Rose's vision started to blur with tears as she thought about her own life, and the man she would love to have a child with. She started to slowly weep.

"Rose? Are you alright." She could hear echoing distant voices. "Rose Sweetheart, are you okay?" It was her Mum.

"Wha? Oh, Mum. Yeah, I'm fine. I was just carried away by the emotion." She wiped her eyes with her free hand.

Rose noticed that Jackie and Pete were wearing bathrobes now and she stood up as Jackie sat in one of the other chairs. She handed Tony over carefully, and holding back the tears she told them she was going to get some air.

She went through the relatives room and out into the corridor and began to sob. Holding her brother had made her realise that she would never be able to do that with her own child. Her true love was lost to her and she would never have a child with anyone but Him.

"Tears of sadness at the birth of new life?" an elderly voice said to her side. "Here, use this to dry your eyes," he said, as he saw her trying to wipe her tears away with her sleeve.

"Oh, thanks," she said, accepting the neatly folded, pale yellow handkerchief. "No, I'm happy about the birth, it's just that it's made me think about someone I've lost."

"Nah. Not on a day like this. Dry your eyes young lady, this is a day for lost things being found," the stranger said.

"Wha?" She'd heard those words before. And that voice. It was old and croaky, but the accent and the intonation… For the first time she turned to look at the stranger and take in his appearance. A wide brimmed, black Fedora hat partially obscured his face as he bowed his head. He wore a charcoal grey, pinstriped suit, with a long black coat over the top. A pale yellow scarf hung loosely around his shoulders. He was leaning on a silver headed cane with both hands, as though gravity might pull him to the floor, and on his feet he wore… red converse with white rubber toe caps and trim.

Rose's breath caught in her throat. It couldn't be… could it?

"Wh… who are you?" she whispered.

The stranger lifted his head to look at her, and she saw a familiar, if not old face. It was the eyes that did it for her, older than the face. Ancient eyes that had seen the turn of the universe and burned at the centre of time. And the smile, a youthful, cheeky grin, set in a face that had been etched and furrowed by time, and framed by a neatly trimmed white beard.

"You!?" she gasped. "But… I… Wha?" she tried to put sentences together and failed miserably. Had her yearning and sorrow finally pushed her over the edge?

"But it can't be me? I don't understand. What's going on?" he said for her helpfully. She just nodded, no words would come out. He lifted his right hand off his left, and waved his fingers. "Hello."

"Are you a hologram again, like on the beach?" she asked.

He nodded at the handkerchief she had accepted off him, and she looked down at it and squeezed it. It was real, which meant…

"Oh my God, it is you," she said as she hugged him around the neck. "But you look so old."

"Well thanks. I like to think I look distinguished," he replied with a smile.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"Only joking, I am old. But you… you look so young," he said with a smile. She could see the love in his eyes. "I wanted to see you again, to give you a message and a gift," he told her.

"But you said the universes were closed forever, I thought I'd never see you again, not ever."

"Never say 'never ever'," he reminded her. "The breach will open one more time, and you must be ready, because it will be dangerous."

"Is that the message?"

"No, that's just a post script. The message is… I suppose, if it's one last chance to say it, Rose Tyler, I love you."

He gently took her face in his hands, and kissed her on the lips.

"Rose? Sweetheart, are ya comin'? We're goin' up to the ward now," Jackie called to her daughter, who was just standing in the corridor like a statue.

"Eh? Oh yeah, I was just… I don't know."

"Are you alright Sweetheart? Only ya seemed a bit upset back there," her mother asked.

She walked towards Jackie, who was in a wheelchair, cradling her newborn. "I'm fine Mum. I got a bit tearful holdin' Tony an' thinkin' about the Doctor an' me."

Jackie looked up at Pete, a worried expression on her face. The counsellors had helped her through her depression and her grief, but what if she was falling back into that black pit of despair?

Rose saw the look and smiled. "But suddenly, everythin's fine. I don't know why, or how, but I know everythin' is goin' to work out fine. There's somethin' in the air, somethin' comin'."

"Well, it's good to see that smile back on your face," Pete told her as she walked along side them down the corridor.

Rose tried to give him the handkerchief. "I don't need one sweetheart, I've got one of my own in my pocket."

"Isn't it yours? I thought you gave it to me to dry my eyes."

"Nope. Never seen it before."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"All right. Both of you, answer me this. When I last stood on this beach, on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing you said to me? Go on, say it."

"I said, Rose Tyler."

"Yeah, and how was that sentence going to end?"

"Does it need saying?"

"And you, Doctor? What was the end of that sentence?"

* * *

**Lungbarrow Manor**

**Weston On The Green**

**Oxfordshire**

**July 2114**

Lungbarrow Manor had been the family home of the Smith family for over ninety years. The 25 bedroom, 16th century stone building, was originally just called The Manor, but when the Smiths bought it, the Doctor changed the name in memory of his family home on Gallifrey.

They decided to buy the house when Rose found that she was expecting their first child. Never having thought that she would ever have a family, especially with the Doctor, she was taking no chances and quit her Ops position at Torchwood to concentrate on being a full time mum.

The Doctor had an open invitation for the position of professor of theoretical physics at Oxford, and decided it would be an ideal time to take them up on their offer, although he remained as technical consultant for Torchwood, and scientific advisor to the government.

When they had moved from London, he converted one of the basement vaults into a workshop laboratory, and transferred his special experiment from Torchwood which eventually became their very own TARDIS.

They'd had five children in this house, and it held some wonderful memories. The children had long since left and had families of their own, leaving their parents to rattle around in the big old house on their own. It was never for long though, as their sons and daughters would return regularly, bringing their own children to stay.

The gardens of the house had been designed to celebrate the changing seasons, where they could stroll along the scented lavender walk in summer, and wander through the woodlands during autumn and listen to the birdsong. The grounds had a hidden knot garden and a croquet lawn, and a team of gardeners would plant and tend the flower beds for all seasons. The family would often enjoy a drink and a snack on one of the beautiful terraces and watch the sun set over the fields beyond.

At Christmas, the house would be full to bursting, as they all returned for the Yuletide and New Year celebrations. Today however, on this warm summers day, the family had gathered there to be present at an event which would overshadow all of those happy memories.

"Doctor, are you there?" The frail woman called out from her bed.

Professor John Smith, known to his wife as the Doctor, took her searching hand in his and sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm here my love, I won't leave you."

The one hundred and twenty seven year old Rose Smith turned and smiled at her husband, her face wrinkled in a smile. "Look at you, as fresh faced as the day you married me." She reached up and stroked his beard.

"Oh I don't know about that," he said, running his fingers through his sticky up hair. "There are flecks of grey in this mop."

"Hah, flecks. What I'd give for flecks. There was a time when my hair was blonde, now look at it, all grey an' 'orrible."

"It's silver and still beautiful," he said, stroking it fondly.

"Where have all the years gone?" She asked with a melancholy air, as she started remembering her life. Growing up on the Powell estate with her mum, Jericho Street School when she won the bronze for her gymnastics.

There was her best friend Shareen, and Mickey of course. The disastrous fling with Jimmy Stone, and then going steady with Mickey when Jimmy dumped her.

'Run!', that amazing man had said when she thought she was going to die, and how they had run, through all of time and space.

"I've just remembered somethin'," she whispered. "You said you'd grow old the same as me." She had noticed decades ago that she was getting 'crows feet' at the corner of her eyes, a scrawny neck, and wrinkled hands, while the Doctor just seemed to get the odd laughter line.

'It must be the Mott gene from Donna', he told her. 'I mean, look at Wilfred, he was a sprightly old chap'.

Little white lies.

Now though, he knew for certain what he had suspected. "Ah, well, I am growing old, but that's the Gallifreyan part of me, we can live hundreds of years between regenerations."

That brought back memories of a conversation they'd had over a hundred years ago.

["I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone who you…"]

Tears welled in her eyes. "Oh Doctor, all these years, and you've had to watch me grow old, knowin' this day would come."

"No, it wasn't like that Love. We didn't know that this would happen. It was a possibility, but I always hoped that my aging would be human."

"I want to stay with you Doctor, but I'm so terribly tired."

He gripped her thumb, and curled her fingers over his thumb, kissing her knuckles before holding her hand to his chest. Tears trickled down his cheeks.

"I…" The words caught in his throat as he stifled a sob. "I know my love. Just rest, everything will be fine."

She heard the laughter of their five children growing up in the house. The birthday parties, the excitement of Christmas's long gone. She felt the sadness when her father died of a heart attack, aged 82, and her mother passing away quietly in her sleep 27 years later. The pride and joy when her children married and had families of their own.

They were blessed with 14 grandchildren, who gave them 31 great grandchildren, who in turn had given them 71 great great grandchildren, with a great great great grandchild on the way.

["And if you want to remember me, then you can do one thing. That's all, one thing. Have a good life. Do that for me, Rose. Have a fantastic life."]

And she'd had a fantastically good life, all because this incredible man had asked her to be his wife. And now, at the end of that fantastically good life, she was able to feel the time line, and for the first time in their long marriage, she understood how the Doctor sensed time. It wasn't linear, as humans saw it, it was chaotic and in flux, full of potential and possibility.

"Doctor?" She breathed, looking off into the distance.

"I'm here Rose," he said, gently rubbing her hand.

"I can see that beach, I think it's time… I love you."

"I love you Rose, with all my heart."

A weak smile curled the edges of her lips. "Quite right too."

She gave an almost inaudible sigh, and a golden mist escaped from her lips. John watched, waiting for her to breath in again, but she never did. There was a faint glistening of gold light in her eyes, and then it faded. He could feel her walking away from him along that beach, turning one last time to smile at him before being enveloped by the golden light.

His chest heaved with sobs as his grief poured out. For one hundred years, she had been there in his head, a comforting, supporting presence, and now he was alone. More alone than he had ever felt in his oh so long life.

"We had the best of times though, didn't we Rose? All the running, the adventures. The places we've been to in our TARDIS, the things we've seen, the things we've show our children."

Five other presences knocked at the door of his consciousness, and he could feel their sorrow and grief for the loss of their mother. He let them in, and together they mourned the passing of Rose Marion Smith.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"You can spend the rest of your life with me, but I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on. Alone. That's the curse of the Time Lords."

"Last time I stepped in there, it was spur of the moment. Now I'm signing up. You're stuck with me."

"How long are you going to stay with me?"

"Forever."

* * *

**St Mary's Church Cemetery**

**Weston On The Green**

**April 2220**

The sound of birdsong filled the air, claims of ownership of the trees in the church grounds. A young red headed woman wearing denim shorts and a black vest top, guided a hover chair through the ornate, wrought iron gates, following the path towards the church. She veered off away from the path, towards a particular grave.

The ancient man in the chair, had white hair that was swept back over his head. He was wearing a grey pinstriped suit, a pale yellow swirly patterned tie, and red converse with white rubber toe caps and trim. "You don't have to push me you know Susan my dear. Mmmm. The chair knows the way."

"I know Grandee, but I don't mind. I've always enjoyed spending time with you. And besides, I want to pay my respects to Greatly Rose."

The old man chuckled at her terms of endearment. She was one of his 573 great great great great great grandchildren, and she couldn't remember a time where he hadn't been a part of her life.

He seemed to revel in repeating the 'greats' over and over, but Susan got bored with it at a very early age, abbreviating the five greats to Grandee for him, and Greatly to the memory of the great great great great great grandmother she had never met.

They arrived at a white marble headstone, and they both read the inscription, even though they had read it many times before.

Rose Marion Smith

1987 - 2114

Loving wife and mother

Everything must come to dust.

All things.

Everything dies so that everything may live.

The Doctor took his silver headed cane in one hand, and the bunch of pink roses in the other and started to ease himself out of the hover chair.

"Hold on Grandee, let me help you. You're not used to Earth's gravity these days," Susan said as she supported his elbow.

For the last ten years, he'd been living in New London on the moon, where the low gravity was kinder to his knees. She helped him to kneel by the grave and then reached her own floral tribute from the basket on the back of the chair. Together they arranged the pink and yellow roses in the stone vase on the grave.

"Happy birthday Rose. How have you been?" He started to chat away to his wife. Susan silently watched and listened, basking in the love that the Doctor had for his wife. A love that even death itself couldn't diminish.

"My song will be ending soon and we'll be together again… forever. Just like you said."

"Grandee?" Susan said with a look of worry on her face.

"Oh, don't look so worried my child. Haven't you read the inscription," he said, nodding to the headstone. "Everything dies in the end, even me."

"Yes, I know, but it's as if you know when it will be."

He chuckled to himself. "I know; it used to drive Rose crazy when I did that."

Susan smiled at him, and he felt both joy and sadness in that smile. If her hair had been blonde, then it would be Rose smiling at him, and he loved that smile, especially when her tongue peeked out from between her teeth. And for 93 years now, he had missed that smile.

When he was first introduced to his great great great great great granddaughter, he could see the similarity with the six year old Rose Tyler, who he had travelled back in time to see her win the bronze medal at Jericho Street School.

Susan set about tending the grave, whilst the Doctor carried on chatting to the memory of his wife. She would listen to his reminiscing, and mentally record the conversation. She had inherited the Gallifreyan genes that had been passed down the generations, and she had the same remarkable brain as her Grandee John.

She was only nineteen years old, but had already achieved BA's in literature and history, before qualifying as a nurse, specialising in geriatric medicine. She had appointed herself as his unofficial nurse, whether he wanted a nurse or not. She was also the family genealogist and historian (unofficially of course).

Her parents couldn't understand why she tolerated this crotchety old goat, and seemed so enamoured with him. But Susan had seen through his facade from the start, and had seen the courageous, compassionate man underneath who had a wicked sense of fun.

What she didn't know of course, was that the Doctor had seen the similarity with Rose, and was charmed by this cheeky, intelligent and thoughtful young lady. He had spent many an hour when she was little, sitting on the terrace of the manor, telling her the stories of their adventures.

One benefit of all of this for Susan, was that she had taken one of the tall tales of Grandee John, and posted it on a fan fiction website. To her surprise, she developed a cult following which spread around the world. The responses she got to this story, encouraged her to post another one, which again got rave reviews. With all this enthusiasm, she decided to contact a publisher, who signed her up to produce a series of books which became a science fiction sensation.

The Doctor ambled to the end of his one sided conversation, while Susan stood with a handful of dandelions and found a bin to put them in.

"Well Rose, I can't sit here all day gossiping, I think my young companion is ready to go."

"Grandee John! You know you can stay as long as you like," she said indignantly.

"Uh-oh, busted," he said with a chuckle and a waggle of his eyebrows. He looked at the headstone. "She has infinite patience with me, just as you did my love. But I happen to know that she needs to get back to the moon, where a producer is waiting to strike a deal to create a holovision series of her books."

Susan's mouth fell open in surprise. "Wha? How…"

"How did I know? Well my child, by the time you get to two hundred and six, you find you have acquired a network of contacts that makes the internet look like a hermits phone book."

He planted his walking cane in the ground and started to pull himself up, as though he were climbing a rope. Susan came around the grave and gently helped him up, giving him a questioning look.

"Did you have something to do with that producer contacting me?"

"I wonder who'll play me? It would have to be someone handsome," he said, ignoring her question. "And foxy," he added with a chuckle and eyebrow waggle as he sat in his hover chair.

"You did, didn't you?" She pressed him for an answer.

"And Rose, any actress who takes on that role will have to be stunning." He looked up at her with a mischievous grin. "If you dyed your hair blonde, you could play the part. You are SO like her, in every way."

"Grandee! Did you or did you not have anything to do with that producer arranging a meeting with me?" She demanded, her fists on her hips.

"Me? How would I know a holovision producer?" He said, giving her his best innocent expression.

"42 - The answer to life, the universe and everything. Your documentary about subatomic physics and the nature of time and space?" She said in accusation.

He looked over at the headstone. "Busted again."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"There's still a Torchwood on this planet. It's open for business. I think I know a thing or two about aliens."

"Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth... You're dead, officially, back home. So many people died that day and you've gone missing. You're on a list of the dead. Here you are, living a life day after day. The one adventure I can never have."

"Am I ever going to see you again?"

* * *

**Heathrow Lunar Space port**

**New London**

**The Moon**

**April 2220**

The lunar shuttle from Heathrow Space port, arrived in New London three hours, eight minutes, and twenty nine seconds after engaging the slip stream engine. It was a weird quirk of transdimensional physics, that no matter how far you travelled by warping space, be it the colonies on the Moon, on Mars, or the latest colony on Alpha Centauri IV, it always took 3.14159 hours.

It still made the Doctor chuckle to this day as he watched eminent physicists scratch their heads as they tried to work out why. He knew that pi was one of those universal constants that kept popping up in the most unexpected places.

He had proposed the theory over a hundred years ago, and had carefully selected his brightest students who had the right mindset to think outside the box (or the sphere in this case), and gave each of them a little piece of the puzzle to work on for their thesis.

He then held a dinner party at the manor, where the students would meet for the first time and get talking about their theses. 'See those three?' he'd said to Rose. 'By the end of the night, they'll be coming to me with an exciting idea of how they could build a propulsion system that would take mankind to the stars.'

And of course, he was right. 'Professor Smith! We've just been talking and have realised that if we combine our ideas, we might be able to build an engine that could warp space', they had enthused.

Rose saw the twinkle in his eye. 'Really. Tell you what, put forward a proposal to build a prototype, and I'll try and secure some funding. You could make this your doctorate project', he had said with his best innocent expression.

Rose wasn't surprised. He'd used the same method to help mankind develop a fusion reactor which now gave the planet cheap, safe and limitless energy.

'I can't just build it for them', he had told her. 'That would be like giving a cave man a machine gun. All he'd do would grab the barrel and use the stock as a club'.

And when the academics and intelligentsia tried to credit him with the inventions, he would humbly deny it. 'Oh, I just had a stray thought, it was my brilliant students who turned it into a reality'.

And that supposed stray thought, now meant that he was sitting on a park bench in Hyde Park, under a transparent dome, with a crescent Earth overhead. He felt something in his chest, something he hadn't felt for over two hundred years. He looked down at the prominent veins on the back of his wrinkled hands. There was no golden light flowing through those veins, not this time.

"Not long now my love," he whispered. He looked to his right and saw Susan walking along the path.

"Good meeting?" He asked as he rose to his feet.

She gave him that smile again, the one that did things to his memories. "Brilliant!" She exclaimed as she hugged him around the neck and planted a loving kiss on his cheek. "Thank you."

"Pah! I didn't do anything. I just lived my life, it was your literary skill that made it into a story," he said dismissively.

She smiled at how he still claimed that his tall tales were true. "Have it your own way Grandee. It turns out that the producers son was one of my cult fans on the website. He continually pestered him into making a program of the books."

The Doctor staggered slightly, and Susan caught his elbow to steady him. "Are you alright Grandee? You look pale."

"I'm alright Nurse Susan, I'm always alright. You don't have to cluck over me like a mother hen," he said in pretend grumpiness.

"Yes, I'm a nurse. Just you remember that your Stroppiness," she said with gently authority.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Mmm, yes, and I'm a doctor, Now I would be grateful if you would help me to get home, I have a message and a gift to deliver."

She looked at him with concern. She wasn't sure if the hospital would be a better destination than his apartment. But although he looked pale, she could see a twinkle of mischief in his eyes, and something else, something ancient and timeless.

The Doctor went through to his bedroom, and opened the tall, wooden wardrobe, which didn't seem out of place with the other traditional furniture in his penthouse suite. Most inhabitants of New London went for the futuristic, moulded furniture that fitted into the modular design of the city.

He reached out his long black coat, and shrugged it over his shoulders with help from Susan. She took a pale yellow scarf off the rail, and draped it lovingly around his neck.

"Ooh look! My old Fedora. I haven't worn that for years." He reached it from the bottom of the wardrobe and put it on, tilting it at a jaunty angle. "What'cha think?" He asked her with a grin.

"Very dapper," she replied. "It makes you look distinguished."

"Distinguished? I like distinguished. Sarah Bernhardt gave me this hat after the opening night of the play Fédora on Broadway in 1889. Rose asked Sarah if she could have the hat at the after show party. They got on really well together... well actually, they got very drunk together," he said with a far away look in his eyes. "The kids organised the trip for their mother's seventieth birthday surprise."

"Not another one of your tall tales," Susan said rolling her eyes and smiling.

Little white lies.

He closed the doors of the wardrobe, put his hands in his pockets, and turned to look at her. His face had an expression which she had never seen before, a mixture of excitement and regret.

"Susan my dear, I have a confession to make. Not quite a deathbed confession, but very nearly," he said with a single laugh.

"What are you talking about Grandee?"

He took a key out of his pocket. "All those tall tales I've told over the centuries, I made the family think they were flights of fancy. Rose and our children new different, because they were part of them, but for the rest of you, we protected you from the truth."

"Grandee, I'm worried about you, I think we should go to the hospital."

He turned away from her, and put the key into a lock on the wardrobe door that she hadn't noticed before. "Tell me Susan, how is it that I can be two hundred and six years old?"

She had thought about that herself, when she had heard the claim. "Well, let's see. You could be lying about your age, but then I've seen evidence that supports your claim when I was researching the family history."

The Doctor turned the key and pushed the door inwards, which Susan thought was weird, because she was sure it had opened outwards when he took his coat out.

"Er, or it could be one of your experiments in gene manipulation, and you've managed to slow down the ageing process," she ventured.

Oh she was smart. Just like Rose. "But wouldn't I have done the same to my wife so that we could live our lives out together?"

"Oh yeah, I suppose so," she conceded.

"Could it be that I'm a human-alien hybrid, and the tall tales that I've told you are true?"

"Oh Grandee, that's just nonsense," she said as she noticed light falling on the carpet that seemed to be coming from the wardrobe.

"Is Torchwood nonsense? They've been dealing with aliens for centuries. Me and Rose used to work for them."

"But those are just conspiracy theories and hoaxes." Where was that humming noise coming from.

"Conspiracy theory hmmm. Why don't you come in and see a conspiracy fact?" He said as he stepped inside the wardrobe.

"Grandee, what are you doing standing in a wardrobe? You're really freaking me out now," she said as she walked forward and peeped into the wardrobe. What she saw made her mouth fall open and her eyes go wide. Her great great great great great grandfather was apparently far enough away from her to be standing outside of his apartment in the vacuum of space. He was leaning against a six sided control console, with his arms crossed and a wide grin on his face.

"Not quite Narnia I know. Bit it's not bad, is it?"

Susan snapped her body back out of the wardrobe, and just stared at the impossible sight in front of her.

"NO!" She exclaimed. "No, no, no, no, no. It's not possible." She leaned left and right to look at either side of the wardrobe. If it hadn't been against the bedroom wall, she would have walked around it.

"Oh my God. The blue box in your stories… it's based on this wardrobe," she gasped in disbelief.

"Er, not exactly," he said as he looked over his shoulder to the console and activated a lever. The wardrobe morphed into a 1950's police box.

"Aaagh!" Susan squealed.

"It is the blue box from my stories… sorry, from my adventures," he corrected himself.

She cautiously stepped back into the TARDIS. "Then it's true… all of it. The travelling, the aliens, the adventures?"

"Yep, and I've got one last trip to make in the old girl."

The doors closed, and the Time Rotor started to pump up and down with a beautiful grinding, wheezing noise. Susan started giggling and then laughing.

"I don't believe it, I'm actually travelling in the TARDIS. It is the TARDIS isn't it?" She wasn't sure if that was its name, or if it was just a name he made up for his stories.

"Time and relative dimensions in space, T-A-R-D-I-S," he spelt out. "TARDIS."

"And where are we going?"

"Ah, now that's a bit timey-wimey," he told her. "When I was finally reunited with Rose, she told me that when her brother was born, she felt like throwing it all in and giving up, because she thought she would never see me again."

"Wha? You're going to see your wife. Won't that cause some sort of paradox?"

"Ooh, I knew you were the one when I first sat you on my knee all those years ago. Yes it would cause a paradox if she remembered it, but she told me that she suddenly came out of her depression and felt certain that she would see me again."

"So you gave her hope for the future, but she doesn't remember why," Susan said, catching on quickly.

"Give that girl a medal," he said as the Time Rotor stopped. "So, here we are, Glendale Private Hospital, 21st June 2011, 5:30 am." He leaned wearily on the console and turned to look at her. "Would you like to meet her?"

"What, Greatly Rose. The incredible woman from those stories? My great great great great great grandmother? Oh yes please."

"Okay then. We're in a hospital, you're a nurse. Go and pop to the wardrobe and find a uniform from the early 21st century."

"Wardrobe? You have a wardrobe in a wardrobe?" She asked with a grin.

"Ah, but its a police box now. Now, through there, first left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left." Susan looked at the archway he had indicated and looked back at him with an excited look in her eyes, before running off to follow his directions.

The Doctor sagged against the console, and struggled over to the jump seat. He flopped down and took some rasping breaths. He just hoped he hadn't left it too late. A golden mist spread out from the console, like an ethereal hand reaching out and soothing him. The TARDIS would make sure he could deliver his gift of hope.

When Susan returned, she was wearing a dark blue, nurses dress, with sensible shoes, and a white, paper hat on her head. The Doctor had recovered some of his energy with the help of the TARDIS.

"That's one hell of a wardrobe you've got back there," she said with a smile.

"Yes, Rose always enjoyed dressing up for our adventures. So come on my dear, let me take your arm and you can help me get to the Delivery Suite." He reached his cane from beside him, and eased himself out of the jump seat. Arm in arm, they walked down the ramp to the doors.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"I can see everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be."

"That's what I see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?"

"My head."

"Come here."

"It's killing me."

"I think you need a Doctor."

* * *

When Susan peeked her head out of the TARDIS, she could see pipe work and cables running along the walls and ceiling, with trolley cages containing white bags of hospital linen. She had worked in hospitals before, and she knew a basement when she saw one, and she was looking at one right now.

"Come on, Grandee. There should be a lift nearby where they take the linen up to the wards." She led him a short distance along the corridor, and found the metal lift door recessed into the wall. Once inside the lift, there was a helpful menu that told them that the Delivery Suite was on the second floor.

The lift 'dinged' its arrival at the second floor, and they stepped out onto a very nice, carpeted hallway with comfy leather chairs for patients and visitors. A sign hanging from the ceiling, indicated that a door along the hallway was the relatives room.

"She'll be in there," he told Susan. "You go and say hello, and I'll have a seat here and wait for her to come out."

She kissed him on the cheek, squeezed his forearm, and headed for the door. She opened it as though she had every right to do so, and casually walked over to the drinks dispenser in the corner. Through the corner of her eye, she could see a young, blonde woman sitting on one of the comfy chairs, cradling a Styrofoam cup of brown liquid.

Susan picked up her cup from the dispenser tray and sat in the corner, picking up a copy of 'Chat' magazine. She looked over to the blonde woman, who she couldn't help but notice, had a haunted look in her eyes, and gave her a pleasant smile. The blonde flashed a smile back and then went back to gazing into her cup, lost in her own thoughts.

Susan then looked at the cover of the magazine, and stifled a giggle. There was a photograph of the woman sitting opposite her, wearing a black, paramilitary uniform. She was receiving a kiss from a handsome, dark skinned man, who had a shaved head and wore the same uniform.

'Is the ice maiden thawing?' the caption read under the photograph, speculating on whether this man was a romantic interest in the action heiress's life. She saw Rose flinch at the taste of the tea, and struck up a conversation, which ended when the midwife called her into the Delivery Room.

She rolled the magazine into a baton, and left the relatives room to find the Doctor outside. He seemed to be dozing with his head slightly bowed. She sat by the side of him, which made him turn his head to look at her.

"I met her. I talked to her. I can't believe I just did that. This is brilliant." She unrolled the magazine to show him. "Look, is it alright if I keep this?"

He read the resume on the front cover, and a low chuckle bubbled up from inside. "Hah, she'd have hated that," he said. "Yes, you can keep it. It can be a family heirloom."

The door to the relatives room suddenly opened, and Rose hurried out, a sob escaping from her throat. She turned to the wall and rested her head on her arm against it. The Doctor hurriedly struggled to his feet with Susan's help, and made his way over to the distraught young woman.

"Tears of sadness at the birth of new life?" She heard him say to Rose, as he took his folded handkerchief out of his top pocket and offered it to her. She saw the look of sadness turn to surprise, and then to absolute joy as she hugged him around the neck. Susan was worried that the Doctor might fall over with the extra weight of Rose hanging on his neck.

But it seemed that seeing his love again had revitalised him and given him the energy he needed to carry on. She saw him gently take Rose's face in his hands and kiss her on the lips. Rose seemed to be in some sort of a trance, as she just stood there, lips still pursed as though she were still enjoying a kiss that would never end.

The Doctor walked over to Susan and took her arm, leaning on her heavily. "We have to go before she recovers," he told her, his voice breaking with emotion, tears stinging his eyes.

Susan put his arm around her shoulders, and supported him around the waist, almost dragging him to the lift. It took an eternity for the lift to arrive, but when it did, they stumbled inside, and she hit the 'B' button.

"Not long now my love," he whispered as the lift descended.

The door 'dinged' and opened, and she shrugged her shoulder under his armpit to help him into the corridor and over to the TARDIS. He rested his body, and the side of his face against the blue wooden door, as he took out the key and put it in the lock. He could feel the TARDIS in his head.

"You can feel it, can't you old girl? The time has come, but I need to get Susan home first."

As the door opened inwards, he nearly fell to the floor grating, but Susan caught him and helped him up to the console. He activated the controls, and the Time Rotor started to pump up and down. Susan stood back and looked on in wonder as a golden mist enshrouded his body.

"Badabing-badabong," he said with a sniff and roll of his neck. "That should be enough to get me home."

"What was that golden light?" She asked him.

"Artron energy, the very stuff of time itself. It's what helped Rose reach one hundred and twenty seven years, and it's what's kept me going until now." He looked down at her, and she could see a golden glint in his eyes. "And it will be what keeps you going."

"What did you say?" She asked him, but the TARDIS landed before he could elaborate.

"Please help me get to my bed my child," he said with exhaustion, and she bumped her shoulder under his armpit again.

The TARDIS had materialised back in his bedroom, so it was a short struggle to get him to the bed. She managed to get his coat and jacket off, slip off his red converse, and cover him with the duvet.

"Susan, I don't have much time left. You'll have to use that incredible brain of yours and listen carefully."

"No Grandee, I'll call an ambulance. The paramedics will be able to help you," she declared with tears in her eyes.

That deep chuckle bubbled in his chest again. "I'm beyond their help my dear, and besides, why would I want their help? I'm about to be reunited with my Rose."

"But you can't die."

"I'd have a job not to. But listen, I have to explain some things to you. The human race is changing, its evolving. When we travelled to the future, I saw what was happening and investigated."

Susan wiped her eyes and sat on the edge of his bed to listen to everything he had to say in detail, so that she could recall perfectly what he had said.

"I am a Gallifreyan-Human hybrid. Our children had a mix of genes from both races. Even without the Artron energy, they had a long life span, and they had Gallifreyan brains. Brilliant and creative individuals who had a unique understanding of time and space."

He reached over and held her hand. "Five children sired 14 grandchildren, all of whom had the hybrid genes. They in turn sired 31 great grandchildren, and then 71 great great grandchildren. In one hundred years, there were 121 new humans, hybrids.

"Are you saying they are mutants, like the X-men or something?"

"No, well, sort of. They all have latent telepathic powers if that's the sort of thing you mean. Any way, in the next one hundred years, we have 140 great great great grandchildren, 302 great great great great grandchildren, and 573 great great great great great grandchildren to date. That's another 1015 people with the hybrid gene my great great great great great granddaughter," he said, looking deliberately at her and waiting for the penny to drop.

"ME?! I'm a mutant!" She gasped.

"You are the future. I've seen it, and it's wonderful. You spread through the galaxy, and then to other galaxies. There are setbacks of course. Disputes over trade and territory, wars. But the Gallifreyan brain wins through and you forge alliances and friendships, and create bountiful human empires. The hybrid gene is being passed on at an exponential rate, there's even a great great great great great great grandson on the way."

"My cousin Olivia, she's expecting in the autumn."

"The next wave of hybrids," he said. "Nothing to be frightened of, it's a good thing, a positive enhancement to the future of OUR race." He could say that now, he wasn't an outsider any more. He was part of the new dawn of the human race.

"When I took Rose to New New York, I downloaded their internet into the TARDIS, and over the years I was able to trace all the technological advances back to their origins, and I've got to admit, it was a bit of a surprise."

"And where was it?" Susan asked. "Torchwood, were they using alien technology?"

"Hmmm, interesting thought. That would have been my guess if I hadn't done the research myself, but it was Oxford university. Someone at Oxford inspired the creation of advanced technology that led to the technological progression of the human race right out to the edge of the universe."

Susan's eyes went wide. "It was you. Professor John Smith, senior lecturer in theoretical physics at Oxford."

"So it would seem," he said dreamily. He was getting tired now. "There is only one bit of technology that is unique in all of this universe." He nodded his head to the object behind her.

She looked over her shoulder at the blue wooden police box. "What will become of it when you are gone?" She cried.

"Oh, I think it will be in a safe pair of hands. Like I said, I knew you were the one when we first met. I could feel it, the Old Girl felt it as well."

"What, you can't mean for me to have it. How would I know what to do with it?" She was really upset now, and it was all getting too much for her.

"Susan, you've known me most of your life… Do you trust me?" His voice was quiet and weak.

"Yes, of course I do."

"Good, because I need to tell you something, and I need to do it in a special way," he said, squeezing her hand reassuringly.

"Er, o-kay," she said hesitantly.

Oh she was So like Rose that it made him weep. He lifted his hand and stroked her cheek, before placing his index and middle fingers on her temple. She could feel him, as though he was standing outside the door to a house waiting to be invited in.

"Is that you Grandee?"

"Yes my child. Do you remember that I told you that the Gallifreyan gene made you telepathic? Of course you do, you remember everything. It's your choice Susan. If you want this, you only have to invite me in."

Wow, what an offer! She thought to herself. What was he offering her. All of time and space by the sound of it. Did she want that? Who was she kidding, of course she did. She'd been listening to his stories all her life, the crafty bugger had been priming her for this very moment. She opened the door and let him in.

She gasped, and her breath caught in her throat, as she saw everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be. She saw him as he used to be, before he split in two, all fire and ice and rage. Like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun, ancient and forever. Burning at the centre of time, seeing the turn of the universe…. Oh he was magnificent.

She knew the TARDIS, and the TARDIS knew her. They would take each other were they wanted to go and where they needed to be. It was a match made in heaven, and they were going to have SO much fun.

"This is beautiful. Thank you Gra… thank you Doctor. Thank you." Her tears of sorrow for her ancestor, turned to tears of joy for the gift of understanding he had given her.

She realised that she was alone on a beach, with golden sand, and a golden sun shining, giving the sea a golden hue, with flecks of gold on the breaking surf.

"Where am I?" She called out.

"Dårlig Ulv Stranden," a familiar voice said behind her, although it sounded fresh and youthful. She turned around, and saw a tall, thin, young Grandee John with brown sticky up hair, wearing a brown pinstriped suit and red converse.

"Wellll, it's a representation of Dårlig Ulv Stranden. Wellll… it's where it all started for us anyway, and this is where it will start again." He looked past Susan, to something behind her, with a smile of pure joy that made her cry.

She turned around, and saw the blonde woman from the hospital walking towards them.

"Hello Susan, it's good to see you again," Rose said, although her voice didn't come from her lips, it seemed to resonate in Susan's head. "I'm sorry if I seem rude, but there's someone I really need to hug."

Susan smiled and stood aside, letting Rose walk past her and into the waiting arms of her lover. They kissed. Oh how they kissed. As Susan watched, the golden glow enveloped them, and their bodies seemed to melt into one, as if two parts of the whole had finally been joined together. Yin and yang fused into perfect harmony.

She blinked her eyes against the glare of the light until she had to close them. When the light had faded, she opened her eyes again, and found she was still sitting on the bed, holding the hand of the now dearly departed Professor John Smith.

She wasn't sad though. She was overjoyed, because she knew he had fulfilled his destiny, and he was finally reunited with his love.

* * *

"Where are we?" The Rose half of the new entity asked.

"The Time Vortex," the Doctor half answered.

"So where do you fancy goin' first?" The Rose half asked.

"Any where and everywhere, first and last, they are the same in here," the Doctor half answered.

"Oh yeah, you're right. This is goin' to be so much fun," the Rose half said.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

The entity that used to be the Doctor and Rose, thought about which universe they would like to visit.

"Oh look, there's Gallifrey tucked away in that little universe," the Rose half said.

"That means that I didn't destroy my people. Oh that's a relief."

"Come on, let's go and watch the Sun explode again. I missed it last time."

**The End**


End file.
